116

Author Notes:

well… that’s that. drop-out is over. there will be a dedication page at some point within the next 2 weeks, but that's it.

i could say a lot about why i chose to end it this way, but i'll save myself from coming off as pedantic.

i’m sure it’s obvious this was based off of my own experiences. i'd like to keep the specifics private, but i'll say if, i hadn’t made it this far, this story would have never become what it has. it would have never existed.

this project was a massive undertaking for me; it's the first comic, or story really, that i've ever written, it took something just shy of 2 years to illustrate, which might seem very short in comparison to some other works, but it is a dime's worth of the dollar of my life.
i started it when i lived in mesa, arizona, about an hour or so away from the grand canyon, while was in a crux of suicidality.
i had just settled into a stable home with my girlfriend after juggling myself between places i could stay for about a year. dust was settling, but i felt empty, and my life was still a mess; jobless, drinking and drug problems, unresolved gender issues, the works.
i found myself spending most of my time that wasn't spent on quick fixes, on fantasizing about times when i was younger, and more ambitiously suicidal, with enough verve and idealism to actually attempt to kill myself.
i decided to write a story about it to occupy my time instead, and maybe try taking my art somewhere one last time.
very quickly, it consumed my life. i wasn't really expecting to have the willpower or skill to get past page 20, even less so was i expecting the amount of attention it got.
i've gotten hundreds of messages thanking me for this comic over the last 2 years, some of them pained and clipped, some of them entire life stories. i've met so many people from trying this out.
thank you to everyone who’s been reading since the beginning. i would have never started without you.
thank you to everyone who saw the words “drop-out” mentioned somewhere along the way and gave it a chance. i would have given up without you.
thank you to everyone who’s reading this right now. thank you for making it this far. it helped me make it this far.
i hope i gave back something that made your time worth it.
despite the nature of the last line of the comic, there will be no sequel. maybe short stories involving these characters before or after this event, but not a sequel.

that said, i don’t have any real words of encouragement, as one might expect from a comic about finding a reason to live. i only have my own life to show for it. this is not a story about how to fix your life, because there is no universal answer to that, and i haven't even fixed mine. several times over the course of this comic, i found myself simply queuing the entire script for a few days later so that if i decided i wanted to end it by then, there would be some sort of resolution. whether the ending was sugar living or me dying, i thought it would ultimately be meaningful, in whatever i figured out i wanted for myself.
life rarely has clean cut endings, as cliche as it is. sometimes all you know is that a chapter is over but your life isn’t.

Thank you, gray. Thank you so much. This comic, this fucking comic means the world to me. It has put me through so many expressions that i cant even fucking express. i just,,, fuck i cant even begin to tell you how much i love this. Just. Thank you.

OK I WAS really excited so know i can organize my thoughts about this better, as i said , thank you so much , thank you for this comic, and for sharing this story with us ,for sharing your wonderful writing , your beautiful art , and for sharing your experience thru this , thank you for this hell of a journey . for wonderful characters that many like myself would see themselves in for probably the first time ever , for helping me figure out things about myself i didnt knew thru these characters, and im so grateful that i got to hear about this comic and to know you because of it,and last but not least thank you because this comic and lola and sugar have given me hope to keep going, thank you gray .

gray, i want to thank you so much for this comic.
i caught up at page 58, the end of a scene which resonated a lot with me, and i'm glad to have been here for half the ride. it seems silly, but i started learning to drive near the end of this comic, and all the driving that was done in drop-out was a big motivator for me to start learning.
lola's optimism in this page makes me so happy. the beginning of the week must feel like years ago to the both of them, and they've both changed so much. they don't have to go back to their old, shitty lives. to me, this page makes me feel like drop-out is a sort of comic-of-age comic, with them both realizing that, hey, they're adults now, and even with all of their crushing responsibilities they still have the relative freedom that entails. their life isn't over until it's actually over. they're still alive, they can start over.
thank you, gray, for giving the fans of this comic such an amazing story. i've never read something that handled stuff like gender, sexuality, mental illness, and suicide as personally and realistically-- realistic for the people affected by that stuff, not outsiders-- until this comic, and it feels so satisfying.
take a well-earned break. you deserve it, and your fans will wait patiently for whatever you do next.

I started reading this a bit late in but oh man I'm so happy I found out about this story, Lola suggesting they get married made me feel so happy, I relate a lot with Lola and seeing them be so hopeful and wanting to be with Sugar, I'm just so happy for both them, thank you for making this comic,thank you for such a hopeful ending,it really made my week.

it's not going to get easier for either of them. the ending respects that there's no real fix for many problems and things might never actually be ok. but. you can also survive. and maybe make something beautiful together with the people you love. thank you gray.

gray, this work is amazing and it means so much to all of us. thank you for all of the time you poured into it. i don't really know how to convey how much i love this story other than saying that i'm crying in my school library right now because i'm so happy for lola and sugar. i want them to heal. i believe that they can and that we all can/

I've been following this comic for over a year now, and have never taken the time to post a comment on any of its pages.
But today, I wanted to thank you for gifting so many people with this wonderful, touching, and utterly moving masterpiece. Your hard work is nothing short of admirable, and appreciated on my end more than I can say - few pieces of media have struck and moved me to tears like Drop-Out has.
Sincerely, thank you, and I hope that you are able to find the solace which you deserve.

Thank you for making this comic.
It made me feel .. so many things, it made me feel real. I've got Good tears in my eyes as i write this and I'm sitting at the breakfast table waiting for my girlfriend to wake up. I'm feeling alive. Not sure what I can say, other than...
Thank you for making this comic.

Thank you so very much for this comic, and for giving it a good ending. Not everything is perfect, life's not a fairy tail, and it's all very uncertain, but I'm so glad that they're moving to something better.<3

This comic means a lot to me, it's like it describes me almost to a T it's uncanny.

I don't know if I'll ever have an ending like this one though, depression still claws at me constantly and I've found that I've been becoming slowly numb to all the things that should make me happy, that used to make me happy.

God your usage of colours is amazing, I could stare at this whole comic for hours.

Thank you so much gray, your work has been beautiful and moving. I know I'm just one sad lil gay out of the many people this story has touched, but it's been an incredible journey.

Your attention to detail, your characters' range of expression, the way you use language, all of it has left me a better artist and a better audience than when I first started following this story (and has it really been two years? Time gets away from me I guess).

I hope you have bigger and better things in your future, but this is the kind of story I can't forget. I know the type - it eats at you until you let it out and put it to paper. But the level of care and skill you have put into that story shine through. I've never read a comic or a book that so precisely conveys so many thoughts and feelings and emotions all at once. I honestly hope that other artists have read Drop-Out because it carries a lot that most art and writing today sorely needs to learn from, a somewhat refined form of nofna's expressiveness. It's not the blunt hammer that modern allegory tends toward, but a more substantive subtext that gives depth to all the little moments. I love your style to pieces.

It looks like you're taking a (well-deserved) break once you finish some commissions? Enjoy it. When you put out something new, I'll be looking forward to it.

hey gray
i just want to say, thank you for such a beautiful and moving piece of work. i feel like ive sort of found myself thru this comic, it resonated with me so closely. my feelings about being a lesbian, about my illness, about organizing my feelings about all of it.
im gonna be honest with you, waiting for this comic to update is part of what kept me alive the past few months. and this ending makes me feel...not so fuckin empty for once. like maybe i can find a way out too, like maybe suicide ISNT the right way out.
also let me just say my wife is gonna be ecstatic when she gets home and sees the ending ;w;
thank you again gray and im looking forward to seeing what you work on next !

Gray, thank you. Other people have thanked you for much of what I have to say, but the two most important things: 1, Lola was the exact right model of Black nonbinary gender to be the "epiphany" I needed to finally accept myself; 2, Sugar was amazing as someone realistic, who wouldn't "snap" out of it at this hopeful ending because why would she. I know that feeling, and she's been relatable. That's why, someone being relatable in that horrible way, being a good and caring person, is phenomenal.

We read fiction to process our own experiences. Gray, you helped a lot of people cope and metamorphosize. I, personally, owe you so much. We will be waiting for your next project, whatever it is. Hopefully you will let us know on this site, or link your blog eventually.

I know you said you haven’t read these yet and boy am I glad. Your post about washing the red to a dull pink... I did that here with Lola.

It remains true that you fundamentally changed my life by helping me see myself, and yes, race was a big part of that. But Lola’s not mine, nor will I ever understand their gender in the light of their experience. I will try to be more humble in how I approach “relating” in the future, and I encourage fellow nonintersex readers to do the same.

thank you so much for this comic. i cant tell you how much it means to me and it looks like im far from the only one. whatever your future endeavors will be, i know they will turn out amazing if this comic is any indicator, you are incredibly talented and tell stories that are not often touched upon by most people but desperately needed..thank you again

i only recently found this comic but i'm so so glad i did, even if it is the ending i'm so glad it ended this way! i'm sorry i cant make much of a detailed comment since i'm bad with words but i just want to say thank you for everything and i look forward to anything else you decide to make!!!

Thank you so much, Gray. Seriously, kudos to you for sticking to it so well for this long. I can't even begin to express how wonderful this has all been ever since the first page I ever saw. I look forward to your next comic, but don't let it stress you too much! Just, thank you, sorry if this is a little awkward, I'm crying rn and don't rly know how to express how I feel. Thank you, so much.

ive been reading since the very first page in 2015. from that first page i was hooked. immediately absorbed in the story and the characters. drop outs given me something to focus on. all these years ive focused on the updates, analyzing the story, etc. it really became a part of my life. debating the meaning of the dialogue, finding the hidden symbolism, and anxiously waiting for the updates to dropwith my partner are now a few of my favorite memories.

being intersex myself, ive related and found some comfort in the fact that lola had a similar childhood to mine, and still became a strong, caring person (snerson?) very happy to see intersex characters written so realistically, not totally focused on THAT aspect of their life. its an extremely impressive skill to be able to do that.

i also started reading around the time i was just getting to the end of my drug addiction. my girlfriend and this story really are the 2 big reasons why im now sober. lolas addiction i felt was similar to mine. the bit where she said once youre on heroin youre just waiting to die is honestly spot on. i have you, (my) sugar, and lola to thank for helping me kick my addiction.

the ending...very bittersweet. i dont want it to be over, but im so happy it is. i was on the edge of my >metaphorical< seat so many times throughout this comic. i cant even imagine counting all the times ive cried. im so so so so happy sugar is okay, im happy BOTH of them are okay. i hope youll make a short comic post drop out on how theyre doing.

exciting news i have, today i proposed to my girlfriend, funny enough her name is sugar. we've been in a ldr for 4 and over a half years. today is a really special day for both of us, she also loved the comic. lola helped me work up the courage to actually pop the question haha! so overall today was perfect for us, i couldnt be happier.

thank you for these couple years. dropouts helped me come to terms with a lot of things, and helped me let things go. beautiful characters, beautiful storytelling, beautiful colors; the whole comic was beautiful and brilliant. thank you so much for bringing dropout into all our lives. looking forward to whatever your new project will be ❤️

god it just dawned on me that ive been using this alias for a year and a half ha ha. this is rabbitscreams.

grey. i cant even think of anything to say that somebody hasnt already said.
youve created this beautiful, funny, sad, meaningful story. a story that rarely gets told, about people who never get talked about.
i remember saying once how you always tried to go for realistic endings, and i think this is the best ending you could have chosen. their futures are uncertain, they still wanna die, but theyre choosing to make a life for themselves, one that might suck a little less.

i cant wait for the next story. at first, i didnt know what i would do after drop out ended, but i know now i dont really have to do anything. i can just live, and love your work

your amazing storytelling brings us right next to these two characters, sitting us right beside them and leaning in to hear their whispers. it shows us the sides of mental illness and gender we never see, bringing us to confront our own feelings in a way we can safely do so. its a story that makes us cry, but with tears of realization that our stories DO matter. that we CAN talk about it. youve given me words i never knew i had.

thank you. thank you so much.
i cant think of anything else to say, so thank you, and perhaps good luck on our next adventure.

thank you so much for making this. i can't even describe how this ending makes me feel. this comic has become so important to me now as one of the things that really makes me really think about how i view the future and hope. i'm going to keep this ending and this whole comic close to my heart for a long time.
congratulations on finishing this!

so... i've probably been trying to plan what to say at the end of this story since i started reading, about may of last year. then of course now that it's over i'm at a complete loss for words...

i can't really say what hasn't been said already, but, thank you. drop-out has gotten me through a rough year. i don't think i've read anything close to as honest and sensitive in its portrayal of mental illness. since i've started reading...

your artwork has improved so much, and your current use of expression and color... every time i see it, it makes me want to draw. just purely makes me admire... art? and spurs me to get better. i've tried to script stories before but i overthink it too much, and it never gets done.

so, maybe this year i'll try to just see it through to the end of a first draft without worrying so much.

i love these characters. lola's spontaneous marriage proposal made me so happy - i am glad it lives up to my "every ending needs a gay marriage" standards (even though we don't technically know if they're getting married or not. THE THOUGHT IS ENOUGH FOR ME!!)

you're such a talented artist and author. i'm really constantly stunned by the subtlety and all of the callbacks/symbolism in this story. it's probably something i could read several times and still not catch everything. really cool work.

and seriously, i hope you can take a nice break after this. i know you can only rest so long when this is your job, but i hope it's enough.

though i am very eager for borderline, whenever you're ready for it. i think you were going to do a shorter comic about the long distance girlfriends first? of course i'm gonna read that, too, or whatever you put out. seriously. i'll be here for as long as you want to keep making art.

I love this. I love this ending. I love how it's ending on a hopeful note, but also not blindly optimistic and idealistic. "just stay? a little while longer? see what we can do?" I really really like this line. it's hard for me to elaborate why exactly but I love it. I also like how Lola is expressing that we DO have control of our lives. sometimes it's so easy to feel trapped, like there are no options, because you've built up something for so long you can't run away from it. but you can. it might not be the easy choice or the "smart" choice but you have that and it is so easy to forget that.

I like how they're also not dismissing Sugar's feelings. Lola isn't denying that Sugar's life is over. Lola isn't demanding that Sugar go back to her old life and give it another chance. Yes, Sugar's life is over. But she's here. And they can make a new life. Not try and fix the life she already had. Make a brand new one. Start from scratch. I feel like a lot of people feel like they have one chance to get everything right, and if they don't they're a failure. But you can try again. completely from scratch if you want to. It's scary, but you have that choice. thank you for reminding me of that

thank you so much for this. when i found your comic a few months ago, i was just starting to realize that my mental health was much less controlled than i thought it was. drop out brought a lot of things into focus and helped me see that i was sitting at the junction of a lot of the things sugar was dealing with. to be honest, i still am. i probably always will be. it was amazing to see a character that i so completely identified with, but i couldnt see it ending with anything but death for her. i was kind of dreading the ending of this comic because i had become more invested in these characters than i ever have before, and i genuinely had no idea how it was going to end.
thank you for saying unequivocally that someone like me, as broken as i feel i am, still deserves to live.

HAHA this was sooo good all the way through I'm so sorry, but thank you so much. I can't even think about comparing my experiences to yours, you're so brave for making anything like this, but this is so encouraging. I want to make stuff like this eventually. thank you so, so much

Mmmmm this comic made me feel so nice and warm and fuzzy inside. I have a lot of childhood nolstalgia with sunrises and staying up all night which is prolly why :) love ya gray! This comic has been my g(RAY) of sunshine (zing.... haha) what a lovely ending. Take a nice break and drink some hot cocoa. Go treat yourself ! I will be ever so happy with whatever you post next. Xoxoxo~

i am a bit disappointed with the pacing of the end. there's been plenty of scenes where the pacing was drawn out just perfectly, but the sugar & lola reunion is so quick and then the story is over. there might be some reasonings for it, and i can't say what gray should have done instead, but i think it would have benefited from at least another page. maybe i'll do another read now that it's over and feel differently idk (and not to be that guy, but mesa is definitely not 1 hour from the grand canyon. it's 3 hours at best...)

regardless of my nitpicking, i loved drop-out, it's raw and it's lovely for it. drop-out is an important work in this time and it takes a lot of guts to do it. thank you for telling it, gray.

hey, i agree with you here, it feels like their week long journey was cut super short at the end; we dunno if it was intentional or not though. i also really feel bad for sugar, i have this aching feeling that even starting new isn't going to help her feel better. the ending fell a bit short with me but i did love this comic

wow
been stickin with this comic for about a year? 9 months? and let me just say it's been a good experience. i genuinely care about these characters more than i care about myself. for a while now, thursday has been the best day of the week. it's been a coping thing for me. i saw characters i could relate to and love. the art is beautiful and the story? god, the whole thing is just amazing. your art and story-telling have influenced mine in ways i could have never imagined.
rest assured that whatever you do next, it will have an audience. i'll be cheering you on the whole way!

I've never posted in the comments before but thank you so much for the comic gray! It's an amazing comic with great characters and art and story and it means the world to me that I got to read it,, Thank you for all your hard work, it's honestly one of the best comics I've ever read!

I'm not the best at putting thoughts into words but I've been following this comic for quite some time and I just wanted to say thank you. I loved the story, the characters, the art, and it's hit close to home quite a few times and brought some tears to my eyes. You're an incredible artist, thank you so so much for sharing this.

i've been waiting for this day for a long time... as soon as you started drop-out i was already anticipating seeing the ending, wondering what would all change both in- and out-of-comic by the time it arrived, because even from the outset it was clear you have a ton of passion and incredible drive to see it through with high quality!

it's so awesome that you've now got a completed comic under your belt and not just any comic, but a comic with awesome writing and stunning art! Sugar & Lola are great and relatable and not just to me but many other readers have expressed great fondness and that's how you know the character writing is really really /really/ good! i feel i'm definitely proud and also immensely lucky to be your wife and gotten to see your work right as it unfolds.

i love especially this ending because it encapsulates the strength of your writing, imo, in that it's real in the capturing of like, even when deep in the augh stuff of life, why people like us, the mentally ill, lesbians, keep going. that with love even someone on the very brink of death with nothing in the way, can find the reason to choose not to go through with it. it's great that it avoids the tragic death ending because it's like, the "endings" to our chapters of life are real, the ones where we still stuck around, like, i know that's the choice i've made many times through our relationship and i love that your comic ultimately celebrates making the choice to stay on this earth in order to be with someone who fills your heart with joy QwQ

thank you so much gray, for your comic but also for everything else, too!

i've been following this comic since page 29 (apparently, according to my bookmarks). It's resonated with me every step of the way. I LOVE the ending. I love it. it gives me a lot of hope.
i've always had this dream of running away, just taking my car and going as far as it'd take me. i also always assumed the end of that journey would be, y'know, suicide in one way or another. i know that wouldn't be my only option, and it wasn't specifically This that made me realize that, but it certainly enforced it. like you said, sometimes you know a chapter is over but your life isn't.
Thank you so much, gray. it means a lot to me.

This comic has inspired me and saved my life. It said things that resonated with me so deeply, explained things about myself that I've never been able to explain, and helped me learn and accept new things about myself. Thank you so much for this experience, thank you so much for making your comic.

Can't say I was here for the past two years, some one posted this comic in a forum, and I fell in love with the comic and binged two years of content, and eagerly awaiting the last few pages. Helped me out in a struggling period, this helped me aim to seek out some help that I needed. I hope life works out for you in however it works out.

I started reading Drop-Out summer of 2016 and have been religiously reading the updates, following you silently on Tumblr ever since. This is my first time ever writing to you in any way.

Even though my personal problems don't exactly 100% coincide with Sugar and/or Lola's, it still resonated and every page felt familiar in one way or another.

These last few pages had me in tears, grinning the entire time; I don't think I've ever reacted this intensely to even drawn images in my entire life. I'm extremely satisfied and happy with how things ended. I've been discussing the ending of this comic with a few others, and none of us expected this turnout. We were all afraid at least one of them would end up in a hospital. But I'm so overwhelmingly happy that you chose to give Sugar and Lola this ending. It really means a lot, in a way.

Thank you for this comic. I've laughed, cried, and to be completely honest dissociated with this comic. I don't really have any words to describe exactly how I'm feeling. I can't wait to see more of your works, Gray. Thank you, once again.

Words can't express how much this story mattered to me. I started reading this during exam season of 2015 (page 7 or so?) with 6 exams to do and was closer than I've ever been to jumping off the uni campus' bridge at the time. Thank you so much for making this comic.

I've been keeping up since page 30-something, I'm pretty sure. Where Lola talked more in depth about their mom in that lush abandoned cul-de-sac. I'd been quietly avoiding the comic due to the content for a while (bless your soul for putting the appropriate warnings), for no other reason than how I'd always seen such topic handled by people. By media.

Boy am I glad I gave it a shot.

This comic has been nothing but poignant and breathtakingly real the entire ride. I've never read anything that was so raw and tenderly written, and you can feel the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this comic's creation. This has been the most cathartic read of my fucking life.

I remember you at some point mentioning that you had written Drop-Out to be the story you needed to hear in the past. I think a lot of us needed this story, too, judging by the comments the last two pages. I think this was the most appropriate ending anyone could have hoped for. It's been a hell of a ride, gray. Thank you for allowing us to take it with you, and please, please enjoy your break.

This is by far my favorite web comic I've ever read, I honestly could write a novel about how much i love this comic and what it means to me, but I know you probably already have pages upon pages to read through.
so i'll just say that the art in this comic is incredibly unique and beautiful, every page is fantastic, the composition and risks you took creating this art really show and I want to thank you for making and completing this comic. I've been showing it to everyone I know!

The last part about not having a "normal" job and all is really important. My partner and I both have chronic illnesses and this comic was and is a huge inspiration to push us to survive selling art and working for ourselves, as a fuck you to everyone or just because art fills a void.

it did seem a little abrupt, like maybe there could've been another page of seeing lola spend the night, and seeing how she stayed awake anxious, and it would help us feel the same painful waiting experience and not knowing

I feel this a bit. Mostly because I don't know if Sugar will ever be able to live happily or even with the want to be alive, if that makes sense. I know living happily means something different to everyone, but with Sugar it seems like she can never even just be content because of the chemicals in her brain! Like, I'm scared living will just always be torture for her.

Nothing Sugar has done has come from a place of maliciousness. She has never done anything to intentionally hurt Lola. She's just miserable to the point of wanting to hurt herself, and that in itself is not a crime. If Lola can handle being there for her (and she very much can, otherwise she wouldn't have walked away), there's no problem with that. There's nothing for Lola to get away from.

to be honest i would say i agree but like... lola isn't a very great person either, she didn't have a care at all when she was talking about how she potentially ruined her foster parents' ability to foster kids bc of her own mistakes & she was ready to just use sugar for all of her financial givings just bc shes ~bougie (see the additional lola comic)

to be honest they're both rather unfortunate people. totally fascinating characters, but i wouldn't consider them like... good? i also wouldn't consider them evil or anything like that. they are interesting characters part of a tragic, incredibly well-written story.

I dont think those fosters were good parents actually, she explains in the following page that they never actually loved her, they just loved the idea of adopting an "underprivileged" kid bc it made them feel like they were good people.

In the extra comic, lola is shown to already care for sugar, but i dont think she could express that properly with devon, who doesnt like wealthy people on sight.

idk i wouldnt call either lola or sugar "bad people". they're just people.

regarding the foster parents, its also important to remember lola was just a child then, who had a very unstable life. should she really be considered a bad person now bc of a mistake she made as a child?

we don't know if they were good parents or not exactly, but i don't think "may have a savior complex" (remember, we only know lola's perspective - from when she was a child) is justification for completely ruining this couples' ability to foster future children

the fact that she doesn't show remorse for making such a permanently shaping decision, even as a child, says a lot about her. ive made bad choices when i was younger (i was a hellion as a younger teen, roughly around lola's age) and i feel genuine remorse for it now.

to feel no remorse for ruining her foster parents futures just bc she personally felt like they didn't love her and only saw her as a 'token' is like... ice cold on lola's part. it shows a part of her that is very self serving and disrespectful of other people. obviously she's not like that across the board but it's something to take note of imo

but yeah i dont think shes like the worst person ever, she and sugar aren't irredeemably people. but i wouldn't argue that lola needed to 'get away' from sugar since there's a lot about lola that sugar should - arguably - get away from herself.

I think an important thing to keep in mind is that it was Lola's mother who ultimately caused those parents to possibly be unable to adopt again. Lola just said they weren't sure why they had to leave their mom in the first place, she was the one who made the argument that they were "raising a girl as a boy" that possibly caused them to be able to adopt in the future. Lola was just a kid who was confused, yeah maybe it's a little messed to not feel too sorry for them but Lola had their reasons, and they weren't the direct cause of it happening. They're definitely flawed characters for sure, but I wouldn't go as far as pinning the blame for that on Lola when it was their mother who should be to blame.

what the original comment tells me is that the writer believes mentally ill people are inherently bad/hurting the people around them. and that is a terrible mindset that i hope changes for you. i'm mentally ill and i have plenty of people who love me. lola doesn't need to get away. sugar isn't bad.

I'm so glad Sugar is alive, I was so worried about her. I understand those who have criticisms, but this is the ending I was hoping for...I was also scared to see "another dead lesbian", tbh.

I think I found drop-out in the middle of the story so I was a late reader, but it really opened my eyes to living with mental illness that I didn't have perspective on before. Also it's nice to see a story about lesbians where...I guess the ending isnt exactly happy, necessarily, but it's HOPEFUL. There's hope that they'll live their lives and make each other happy and get an apartment together with a dog or something, who knows. Either way, having that hope is better than having nothing to hope for, in my opinion.

I hope this makes sense, I just woke up. Either way, you are a fantastic story-teller, and I'm really excited to see what comes next.

Basically since I commented last, I've been planning to say this.
I honestly thought this could only end two ways. In one, they both died and I would be heartbroken. In the other, they both changed their minds at the same time and it was anticlimatic.

Basically what I'm saying is that gray is a far better writer than me because this was far better than anything I came up with.

I feel I joined a bit late, but this has become one of my favourite webcomics (and that's no small feat because I read WAY too many webcomics). I eagerly await whatever comes next.

I've checked up on it every week since you started. You have a great talent for crafting an engaging story. I would absolutely buy this if you managed a print release, and I'd recommend you look into that. You really made something special here. I haven't read anything quite like drop-out before. This comic helped me through bad times and I doubt that I'm alone in that.

ive been following this comic pretty rigorously since about page 34-35, and i have to say im extremely happy with the conclusion to this comic. drop-out in general is such an inspiration to me, art and subject-wise. i hope in the future with my own comics im able to tackle the sorts of subjects drop-out has dealt with in the very..... Real, genuine sense, like you have, if you know what i mean.
im super excited for your future projects!! thanks so much for everything, gray!!!

i've been trying to come up with the right thing to say at the conclusion of this incredible comic that is so so important to me and many others... but i dont have the right words... ill just follow the herd and say Thank You, gray, thank you so much, this work means so much.

you know actually let me just say a little more. i don't remember around what page i started following, but i know it was pretty early. it's been a lovely experience to watch the art evolve, watch the story unfold, conjecture & read others' takes on symbolism. i've met really cool people just because of the existence of this comic. ive cried & laughed reading it. it really is a very special very precious piece of art and storytelling. again, and from the bottom of my gay little heart, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you so much for making this story. It was honestly the most "real" story I've ever read. I guess that make sense since its based on true stuff. I would love to see more comics in the future if you ever decide to make more. I also made some fanart awhile ago and finally posted it: https://autistic-cosmos.deviantart.com/art/Dropout-702410082

I think a point everyone is missing here is that we technically got both endings. Sugar and Lola are indeed dead. They'll have to change their names and maybe get new looks because now they are Officially Missing.

ok so when i started to read this comic i had in mind "i'm not going to kill myself right now, but i know i will when i'll be older" like, when i'll be an adult. And then i read it and it gave me a slap in the face! It's so well written and the art is so good and interesting! The characters made me realize that my life is so perfect compared to their, and it has no reason to change.
All is a matter of choices and, if i don't make a good one, there would be an another to correct the first one. I think they made the right choice. Congratulation for all those pages ^^ god when i read the 107th i though it was the end so it was a really good surprise to see that it was in fact, not the end!

What can I say? I knew the end was coming. I realized this would be the last update when I saw the site goes to pg 1 automatically now. When I opened it on Thursday and saw it was the end I just felt... numb at first. I had no idea what to say. It being Over... knowing these characters I've seen every week and learned about... n knowing there's so much I probably won't ever know! ... Its weird how the reveal that Sugar is going to keep on living (...For now) comes with the 'death'/end of this comic. Very bittersweet.

That Thursday I just closed my browser. I wanted to comment, but I had nothing to say. I have stuff to say now but I can't promise it's very intelligent or coherent.

Gray... thank you so much for this. Your comic resonated so much with me. I feel bad that I probably misunderstand or misinterpret some of it. But I found myself linking and sharing Drop-Out and saying 'this is like me' (Sugar) or using it to open conversations with my friends and loved ones. Lola and Sugar remind me of me and one of my partners, not that we are exactly the same but... a similar dynamic. You posted once something like 'their relationship isn't 'healthy' because they're not healthy' and that really spoke to me. Nobody I love is 'healthy' and sometimes I can be convinced that this can't be real love, we're too fucked up and if only we found a Good Person to fix us we'd be 'normal' again. It's really something to see that kind of love portrayed matter of factly.

The end of Drop-Out has left an aching hole in my chest, but it's the kind that only exists because there was something amazing and special there before. Like not wanting to lose the grief after someone you love dies.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do next. And I'm so glad I got to read along with you, and everyone else. Thanks so much. :)

all the ambiguous tying-together here is so fitting, after all this intricate illustration of the duality/conflict of the nature of life’s perseverance, in the characters, symbols, composition, dialogue, settings - because that processive contradiction of perceptibility is something that i too have had to scrutinize so painfully just to keep from giving up. the hopeless void must be transformed into limitless potential every day! all of the dialogue on this page feels so familiar and its really special to see that very sentiment - the core of my own faith - expressed in the context of drop-out, as a theme with such an enormous focus, and in a story that resonates so.

what a wonderful story with a perfectly open-ended resolution. thank you for sticking around, and for seeing this through. it’s been an inspiration, it has given me a lot to think about and kept me on the edge of my seat. you have built something truly great

what a wonderful story. I have had thoughts and feelings similar to this at points and it all returns to picking up the pieces and just going on. I love Sugar and Lola and I will deeply treasure them in my heart. Thank you for writing this story. it means so much to me.

Thank you, Gray. This story truly touched my heart in ways I couldn't even articulate. Thank you for sticking with us. Thank you for opening your heart to us and sharing a little fragment of your world with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

i just noticed the parallel with sugar watching the sunset while on the road at the start of the story and saying its so painful and the sun rising at the end of the story with them resolving to keep going together... thats gay

I know you're exhausted and tired of (from?) Drop-out, but I wanted to say a huge thank you for it. A lot of it felt like reading something from an alternate version of my life. The whole story's so messy! It's so dirty and none of its pretty! But it IS beautiful just like life manages to be. Dirty and gross and still art. I mean, not to mention REAL gay. like REAL REAL gay.

Its been really important to me and I wanted to say thanks - the only webcomic i've ever managed to stick with till the end! Its been a ride, even watching your style change and your boarding skills get so excellent. I look forward to future stuff from you, if you feel like making it.

Thank you. So fucking much. This comic has meant so much to me over the time I've read it, and the first time I binge-read to page 59 or so, I just. Sat. And let my heart unfold. Because Lola and Sugar both resonated with me, and the entirety of what lay ahead in it was overwhelmingly exciting, And because I had something to look forward to once a week. Silly as it is it actually helped me have a bit of a schedule. But god DAMN dude. This comic is incredible, and I know you said two years is relatively short, but even to invest yourself in something for this long is a feat in in itself. To see your art style evolve, and the amount of time and effort put into it, it's amazing, it's inspiring, and it's gotten me through and into a lot of things. As bittersweet as it is that this is over, I hope that you continue to create things that get you through and into some shit in the best way possible. And even if you don't, this comic is part of a lot of people's hearts and I don't think that'll change any time soon. (Plus I bet there's a lot you could miss when you're just waiting for an update, I can't wait to have time to sit down and reread this)
Thank you so, so fuckin much Gray. From the bottom of my heart, and everybody else's too.

i know a lot of people are commenting about how grateful they are for this comic, and i feel the same way, but I just had to get in a bit of meta, even at the ending:
a few people have pointed out that the closest drop-out has to an antagonist is, among debatable others, sugar's therapist. to me, lola suggesting that sugar not take the meds that make her miserable and to not go back to therapy that doesn't help as, i guess not necessarily defeating the antag bc the therapist still has her job and stuff, but overcoming it. that makes me extremely happy to see, bc a lot of other media frames medication and therapy as the end goal to be proud of, and never stops to consider the damage that it can cause.

It has been a really, really long time since I've bawled this hard. And I think this is the first time in my life I've ever happy-cried, like full-on, bawling, but smiling and grinning like an idiot, choking on my words and unable to breathe but so goddamn happy.

I don't know why I'm crying so much, my shirt is soaked, I'm sweating all over, my cat is scared and my family is worried but I keep telling them I'm okay and that I'm so SO FUCKING HAPPY.

This comic is seriously something I'm going to remember for the rest of my life, It's so close to my heart, I'm so glad I got to be here to read it and to talk with others about it and fuck holy fuck I love it so much, I love everything about it, I'm so sad it's over but I'm so happy it's over and I'm feeling so many damn things at once.

Let me get a little personal for a second, my former best friend of 4 years showed this comic to me and we started fantasizing about getting a trailer and just leaving our lives behind us and living on the road and travelling all over wherever we wanted. She has struggled with overwhelming feelings of being suicidal and has attempted to kill herself multiple times in the past.

We're not friends anymore, I left her life because she found somewhere better and I couldn't be more happy for her.

Around last year my childhood friend of 7+ years killed herself and my life has never been the same, I have to avoid talking about it because I break down into tears at the thought and I miss her so much. From then til now I've been talking to her girlfriend trying to console her and listening to all the amazing stories she had to tell me about her, I got to know her so well even after she died and I couldn't be more grateful for it. Shortly before that happened my 23 year old cat passed away and I had pretty much no nonconditional shoulder to lean on for a long time.

This comic seriously, wholeheartedly helped me through some of the worst times I've ever experienced and even though it's over, it will continue to do so. I've never related to a set of fictional characters so much in my entire life and a large part of me believes that somewhere this is real, something like this exists, and it gives me hope.

I've calmed down a bit now, there's still some tears and my chest still feels really heavy, and I'm probably going to cry about this a few more times, but this has provided me with so much extreme happiness and has brightened my life so much, I could not have asked for a more perfect ending. I'm not disappointed it's over, I'm not sad, I'm so happy. I'm more happy than I think I've been in a long, long time.

Struggling with mental illness my whole life and today I was feeling especially worthless. I can't work, I can't go to school, I can hardly do anything but I love my family so much and I love my cartoons and I love my comics and I love this comic and thank you, thank you so so much for everything grey. Thank you so much.

i dont mean to speak for gray here but i think ive seen them say that they prolly would not make prints of drop out bc of how the art style (bein all pixelly and schtuff) would not translate very well to printable dimensions :(

Thank you so much for the work you put into this comic, I only found it a few months ago after my own attempt but it's helped me sort of make peace with my problems. I've been able to actually resonate with both characters (which is rare) and seeing things in their pasts that have happened in mine honestly have helped me a lot. And your use of color alone throughout the whole thing is astounding <3 I wish you well going forward from here

I just need to add onto this wall of comments and say thank you for making this comic, truly. The amount of work and mental energy it took to make this is amazing honestly and as an artist myself I can't imagine how hard it would be to work on this on a weekly schedule and admire you for being able to create something so profoundly moving and real.

To get personal I've been going through one of the worst years of my life, people close to me leaving, death, struggling with personal relationships, and struggling to get over a heroin addiction and deal with my mental illness without now being numbed from opiates. I found this comic on page 54 and will always remember that, the dialogue on that page dealing with suicidal thoughts and gender identity. I went back and read up to that page in one sitting and have been coming back for every update since. This comic has helped me immensely this year when I've been feeling low. When I've felt like I had no one I at least felt like I could relate to these characters, like they were speaking in a language I could understand and living in a world that was familiar to me.

I love this ending too. Not just for the fact that Sugar lives and comes back, but this conversation with Lola telling Sugar if she doesn't want to go back to her old life, she doesn't HAVE to. It's a simple concept in theory but it can be so hard to be stuck in a cycle where you're an adult but you're tied down by doctors, parents, people that think "they know what's best" and you can't even imagine just leaving and starting over as an option. I like how this comic portrayed suicidal thoughts and suicide in such a realistic manner but also this simple concept of just escaping can be SO hard to do that suicide seems like the easier way out. But leaving is possible. It took me way too long to realize that leaving was possible and suicide felt more realistic to me also so this just really meant a lot to me personally. I think it's a beautiful note to end on and wow I'm really rambling here so just thank you again. I'll be coming back to reread this comic many times in the future and whatever else you make next and hope the best for you as well in whatever you pursue. A break after this is very much deserved though, the skill and time that went into creating this is outstanding. Just thank you again.

i don't have the words to properly thank you for making this beautiful thing. i've been reading drop-out almost since you started it (usually late because my memory sucks) and i don't think i made it through any of the updates without crying, not least because this is the only piece of media with nb intersex disabled lesbian main characters i've seen. that just means so much and i'm so glad they lived. thank you.

heya, how r u doing today? im hoping u feel better about the feedback after the few or so stinkers who wanted a different ending... cant please everyone eh (and if u did tbh the ending wouldve been predictable as hell)
you have poured your heart out into this comic and its so special. ive never read anything like this before! ill b brutally honest I dont like webcomics and I usually give up on them after the first 20 pages or so because of boredom but youve kept me hanging on the edge of my seat here! and this might sound funny but i just have fond memories of web surfing in like early 2016 and being all, oh? whats this? and reading some drop out, reading some more, and then i reached to the latest update and got all "wtf!!!! gimme more!" and then i saw i went way over the first 20 pages and i was all "WTF!!!!! WHat did this comic do to me?" lmao, it really took me by surprise back then
and,, whoo boy im sitting here mulling over what just happened. its such a simple but profound message you know? when yr an adult you get so used to routine and control as a kid you forget... that youre an adult and adults can do whatever they hell they please! isnt that the coolest? no trying to be deep or anything with a profound message that i dont really get but smthin much more important... just, let live, do what you want, be happy, be an adult, and let yourself be free! youve made me a happy girl tonight gray, i know its been said a thousand times over but thank you. thank. you. thank you soooo mcuh... i hope you have a wonderful day/week/however long you need loverly vibes sent ur way. xoxoxo

i cried, a lot, thank you for this, i can't remember how exactly i discovered this comic, but im sure it was my girlfriend who showed it to me when we were talking life stuff a long time ago, we related a lot with it and im thankful for what you did. Thank you so much for this again, it means a lot, really.

I found your comic by chance earlier this year around a time when my mom was starting to have frequent bouts of psychosis. I am still learning and have made plenty of mistakes but I don't think I would have been able to help her find solutions and a safe living situation without reading about your characters. Seeing things from the point of view of a character who also suffers from schizophrenia, seeing that homelessness is sometimes a reality, and seeing that you can't always make a decision for someone (but you can talk to them about how you feel), are all things I haven't found in a lot of media. It seems to be a societal norm to demonize mental illness or portray it as something pitiable that needs to be "fixed".

I am so grateful that you created this, and that it helped you through a rough time. It also helped me through a rough time, my mom through a rough time, and I'm sure many more. I hope to see your work on bookshelves one day.

well i just read the last of this and while i had definitely expected myself to relate to these characters this ending hit me right in the gut as i feel as if its fitting of my current situation.
someone i love and i have been having a rough time starting our lives as adults and the most i can hope for is that we stay together and we stay alive, even if things are kinda shitty right now.

its been amazing reading this and seeing good depictions of these mental illness symptoms and same with gender/sexuality problems. idk what else to say, this comic does a lot of good and i know im not the only one alone in thinking this.

So today I came across your webcomic, read half of the story in the afternoon, went to work, got back at 11 and spent an hour finishing up this masterpiece. The characters, the colors, the entire story is something that can't be explained in just one word. Suicidal thoughts are common thoughts, even if no one says it, it's a natural thing everyone thinks of and for your story to touch that and even gender identity and let it all flow into a natural story is just art. Thank you for showing us a piece of you as Lola and Sugar have shown each other.

I came here after Drop-out was recommended by a co-creator of another webcomic series. With high praises. I'm so glad I didn't hear about this before it was complete. Not because I didn't enjoy it, far from it. I don't think I could have withstood waiting for another page post. This has been the best read I've had this year. The characters and concepts, conversations and situations are all so real and well played. And the ending I'm glad it came to the way it is. It's not a bad ending. But it's not happy. They're both hurting and it's not all ok and might not ever be. But where there is life there is hope.

I see all these people who have issues. I don't. I never have. I'm healthy mentally and physically. My partner sent me this link and I didn't think it would effect me the way it did, but holy fuck.

I may not identify with most of this, but I know people who do, and I can SEE people hurting like this. I just want to tall you, Gray that this is phenomenal and the WORLD should know about this. EVERYONE should read it and I'm going to do my best to spread it wherever I go.

This was an AMAZING endeavor, the message was REAL. It wasn't a happy ending, it wasn't a happy BEGINNING, but it WAS a beginning. I think that's all anyone can ask for.

I really hope you don't honestly feel that the people saying they wanted a different ending wanted you to die, nobody in their right mind is going to want that, nor should you take that to heart if they did

i like this ending objectively but I'm also torn.. I'm glad sugar chose to turn away and follow Lola when she was essentially traveling alone in the middle of the desert, but I can't understand how someone could turn down basically the perfec opportunity to die. that wouldn't be a good message to put forward publically though esp with an impressionable audience

Wow. What a tough comic, but I'm so glad you wrote it. I just started a job as a psychiatric nurse and I really think your comic has helped me become more empathetic, better able to really be there for the people I work with. Thank you.

I just want to bring to light once again how hard I happy-cried when I read this page. I didn't know you could be full-on sobbing, bawling, tears streaming down your face out of pure happiness. It was the most surreal experience in my life. Thank you again, gray. Thank you so, so much.

This comic has, and will continue to be a source of happiness in my life.

Once I get a stable source of income, expect to see me becoming a $15+ patreon supporter. It's the least I could do to reward you for all the amazing things you've done.

wow, I've been following this comic up until about half a year ago. I had to stop for a bit because of life getting in my face again I guess.
Long story short, I have moved to a new country since then, and I am having new beginnings in a good way.
I'm very happy that you also decided to end things like that.

p.s. I have taken to writing "aha" at the end of random texts, and fuck why not aha

Had this recommended to me a couple months ago, just read the whole thing in one go today. I don't really know how to condense all my immediate raw thoughts/feelings into one comment only seconds after finishing, so I'll just say I Liked It A Whole Bunch hahaha.

I came back from the psych hospital after being 5150'd for the second time in two years and just... this comic hit hard. Kinda feels like it's the right thing at the right time for me. Wonderful work of art, seriously, thank you for this.

i've been reading this comic on and off for over a year, my last break was in July when i started treatment

sometimes i worry about my decision to take agency of my life, i worry about the meds and trying and being wrong- i worry about being a disappointment or a bad role model, i worry that i'm delaying the inevitable

i hope it's not selfish to say: thanks for quieting those worries if even only for a short time

I read this over the period of a day, and it hit me quite hard. Struggeling with selfworth issues, an abusuvr home, identity crisis, selfharm, and suicidal thoughts, this became therapeutic to me. My sense of self nonexistant and undeserving, this pair, as broken as they are, gave me some hope- hope that just maybe I could be a little bit okay.